This Life
by strawberrygurll
Summary: Story about Rafe's younger sister, Charlotte, and their lives with their best friend Danny. This is my first FF, so Please be nice. :)
1. Chapter 1

A/N:This is my first fanfiction story. So PLEASE be nice. RR please.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story except my character (because I made her up...gosh I'm smart!). So I'm gonna say what everyone else says..clears throat..PLEASE DON"T SUE ME!

**It was a warm summer morning on June 1932, and Charlotte McCawly was lazily laying**

**in the tall green grass, as she watched Rafe, her older brother, and Danny, their best friend, soared **

**through the blue sky. Charlotte was about 5 foot seven, with long blond hair that was always in two **

**braids, she was a tomboy, as some people may call it, and has been best friends with her older brother**

**ever since she was born. **

**'Why does mama always make me wear these ugly dresses anyway' Charlotte thought to herself, as she **

**stretched out her legs and surveyed her dress while sitting very unladylike, 'They always get dirty **

**anyways' she thought looking at the grass stains that spread throughout the bottom of her dress. She**

**sighed loudly and fell back down and looked at the odd shapes that the big white fluffy clouds were **

**making in the sky.**

**A/N 2: well that was VERY short. But if anyone reviews nicely, maybe with constructive criticism ('cause if I get flames I'll probably burst in to tears..) since I am a first timer... I will update and make the next chapters longer than this one. Hopefully way longer... **


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: WooHoo!!! I got 2 reviews TWO!!!.Well that's a lot for me.So nobody laugh....gives evil glare at supposedly 'best friend' after she tries to erase what I am now typing....

okay so great BIG 'Thank You's" to drum-roll please.....

Anna and Irish Flame (so where's my tootsie pop???huh?huh?okay, I'm only joking don't worry...)

! Luv you guys!

Disclaimer: I don't own in this story but the plot and my character...sigh...

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Chapter 2

About an hour later, Rafe and Danny finally made a smooth landing, gliding down their run-way,

and jumping out. Charlotte jumped up and stomped angrily towards them, mumbling to herself

about 'Oh Charlie we'll only be 'bout half an hour' 'Oh, okay oh so trust-worthy brother I'll wait for

you for practically a gazillion hours, to let ME take MY turn at flying, because YOU promised Me

that YOU would teach me!' 'Half an hour my foot' "HAH!!".

"What's so funny Charlie?" Rafe asked while looking at his sister with a slight smirk on his face,

wanting to be let in on the 'joke'.

Charlotte jsut glared at him and turned to Danny and calmly asked, "So how long did'ya guys say

you were going up for today?Hmm?", and then she truned and stomped back to her 'patch' she made

while laying in the field, and fell back down with a dramtic sigh.

Rafe and Danny stood in the same spot, watching Charlotte walk, or stomp rather, back in to the

middle of the field, stop, and plop down, and they couldn't see her anymore. Danny turned to his

best friend with a big grin on his face and said in a laughing voice, "She's your sister". Then they

both waded through the tall grass, following Charlottes trail, and sat on either side of her and stared

at her.

After five minutes went by, Charlotte finally got tired of trying to ignore them both while they

stared at her, even if she had her eyes focused on the big fluffy clouds in the sky, "So how

are you guy? Me? I'm fine, just fine. Oh and thank you SO much big brother of mine for

remembering about ten hours ago you promised you would bring me up to fly with y'all, I am so

very touched." she said sarcastically.

"Charlie we were only up there for... Danny what time is it!?!" Rafe said while jumping up and

looking at Danny with a worried look on his tan face.

"Ten past one", said Danny looking up at the form of his best friend who was now hopping up and

down almost looking like a little kid who REALLY had to go to the bathroom.

"Charlie! You were supposed to remind me!" Rafe said in a exasperated voice, now looking like a

kid who REALLY REALLY had to go to the bathroom, and now adding to it by rapidly flapping his

arms as if trying to fly like a bird.

"Remind you what?" Charlotte asked in a bored tone, with her eye's still closed.

"I knew I shouldn't have told you to remind me! I knew it! Oh, Samantha's gonna be mad now.

Third time I"m late!" Rafe yelled as he took off in a run towards the house,leaving Charlotte and

Danny still laying in the tall grass.

A few minutes passed before Danny spoke, "Wa's wrong with 'im?" he asked in a tired voice.

"Quiet! I'm still tryin' to remember what I was s'posed to remember." Charlotte replied in an equally

tired, yet still bored, voice.

"He said somethin' about Samantha,or something I think" Danny mumbled.

"Yeah, maybe he did." Charlotte said while sitting up, blinking againset the suns harsh afternoon

rays, and looked towards the part of the house she could see over the grass, and racked her brains

while trying to figure it out, with her face scrunched up in confusion. She looked over to Danny, and

studied his calm, handsome face (A/N:okay, I was going to say really super duper HOT, drool

worthy face, but.....).She then clunked herself back down in the grass and layed still, while at the

same time, still trying to figure her brother out.

Finally, half an hour later, Charlotte sat up with a loud "AHA!!". And scared the heck out of Danny

who was dozing off, but now wide awake, and sitting up having jumped two feet off the groud,

"What?" Danny asked irritated that she woke him up.

"Samntha. Samantha Watson. That snotty, stuck up girl Rafe has been crushing on since you guys

were, like,well after whatever time you quit thinking girls were icky and had cooties..." Charlotte

said, "He told me to remind him to get to the river at one o'clock...I bet you that he was meeting

Samantha." she said with a look on her face that said she was proud to have such a GOOD memory.

"Are you sure it was Samantha Watson? I mean it could have been Samantha...Are there any other

Samantha's 'round here?" He asked her, with a confused look on his face.

"Yes, positive. And no there aren't, not unless you count little Samantha Cooper, but she's only

seven." Charlotte said while closing her eyes again.

"Okay, why didn't I know any of this?" Danny asked now fully, completely, wide awake.

"I dunno, ask Rafe..."Charlotte said while dozing off, taking her turn to fall asleep. While Danny

took his turn, looking at the clouds, and thinking hard on the reasons why Rafe wouldn't be telling

him about him and Samantha.

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A/N: I know another short, boring  chapter...okay maybe, I hope, not as short as the first one..But I have to let my sister have a turn on the computer to finish her 'homework'...okay, please review! :-)


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: WooHoo! (hey I just realized I type 'WooHoo!' too much, 'course I don't usually say it...I think...). Anyways, I got two reviews for Chapter 2 (Looks REAL proud of myself), gosh I'm so happy I could jump for joy (but am too lazy to do so...will now resort to flapping arms wildly with happiness...).

And now for the BIG 'Thank You's' to:

Anna-thank you for adding 2 reviews to my now 4...'cause that sure made me SUPER happy...

Rachel E Walker-Thank you for your words of umm...encouragement (look, I used a long word...looks proud of self once more) glad you found it okay. 'Cause when I first started this I expected absolutely (look another long word...well sort of...) no reviews.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything 'cept MY character, and MY plot, that I thought up MYself.

Okay, on to Chapter 3

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Later on in the afternoon, around 5 o'clock-5:30, Mrs. McCawly called from their backyard,

announcing dinner time.

Danny woke from his four hour long conversation he was having with himself inside his head, and

sat up (like any normal person would do...). He got up brushed himself off and took off running

towards the house, following the scent of FOOD, only to turn back after remembering that he had

forgotten Charlotte back in the middle of the field.

Danny stared at her face for a while, admiring her beautiful face, with the small string of drool

running down her face, from her wide open mouth. Listening to the rythmic, melodic snores,

emiting from her.

"Charlie... Hey, Charlotte." Danny whispered, nudgeing her softly with his foot.

Charlotte continued on snoring away...

"Charlotte! Wake up!" Danny whispered more urgently, now with the scent of food becoming

stronger, and with his stonach talking to him, or rumbling rather.

Charlotte still had yet to show signs of hearing Danny at all.

"Charlotte Anne McCawly! Wake up! NOW!" Danny yelled as he shook her gently, like Shrek did

to Princess Fiona (A/N: Your know from 'Shrek'...the movie...if anyone else has seen it...).

Charlotte rolled over out of Danny's grip, glared at him sleepily, and made an attempt to fall back

asleep.

Danny just glared back at her back, sighed dramatically, and reached over to pull her up and drag

her to the house, caveman style (Who knows why he is making such a big deal out of bringing her

to the house...why bother, all the food to himself...some people.).

Of course Charlotte, who was now wide awake, would not allow another human being 'treat her in

such a fashion', stood up, smacked him in the back of the head, and stomped up to the house ahead

of him.

Finally, they both made it to the house, and entered in to the warm, inviting kitchen. They were

greeted by Mr. and Mrs. McCawly, who were both sitting at the dinner table already eating.

"Hello Danny" Mr. and Mrs. McCawly said warmly, and at the same time (A/N: I find it quite

creepy when people are able to say things to you at the same time...)

"Hello" Danny said nodding to each of them with a smile on his face.

"Rafe's not back yet." said directed to her parents, which sounded like more of a statement, rather

than a question.

"No dear, he said he was going to be out with that lovely girl Samantha Watson." Mrs. McCawly

informed them, "I met her once in town, she was with her family, what a wonderful family they

have, and that Samantha darling was so polite..." Mrs. McCawly said turning to her husband.

Charlotte was still standing in the doorway, making gagging faces, then mimicking her mother with

a very sour look upon her face, fortunately Mrs. McCawly's back was to her, and her father was too

into the conversation with his wife. Then Charlotte announced "I'm gonna wash up", of couse the

only person who seemed to notice was Danny, because, well, her parents were still in the

conversation about that lovely girl, Samantha Watson.

Charlotte stood for a second waiting for her parents to show signs of heaing her at all, then turned

with a huff, and stomped down the hall towards the bathroom, muttering under her breath about

'That Samantha darling' 'she's such a dear' 'Sooo perfect' 'I hope she dies a slow painful death'

'maybe if she fell off a cliff' 'yeah...an accident' 'hmph, she won't be so great then'. She was still

muttering to herself as she turned in to thebathroom, and slammed the door hard. Of course no one

in the dining showed any signs of noticeing.

Danny, who was still standing by the doorway, moved quickly towards the nearest seat, sat down

and started piling the food he was waiting for on to his plate.

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A/N: I know that was probably veddy,veddy,(very,very) boring, and pretty odd that I devoted and entire chapter to their "Dinner time", but that 'tis all that I could think of. I'm "Going with the flow" here, so I just type whatever comes to my mind, or finger tips, or whatever else...Okee, please review. And I just "MIGHT" make the next chapter longer...that is if my brain is up to such hard work....um...ouch...Okay, Review Please.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: YAY! (I have now decided to start saying yay...yup) 6 review thingy-ma-bobbers... 6! Oh yeah go me....does very crappy dance, which I am now not too lazy to do...Okay, I am now adding on a new chapter to my story, okay... yeah... If anyone was reading this a wondering why I did not update sooner, it is because all my teachers are...... EEEVVVIIILLL..... um, evil (Of course I had enough time to read and review stories, but I did that when I was supposed to be doing my homework...)

Thank You to Rachel E. Walker, you are now my most favouritest person in the entire world...I'm am not weird....and favouritist IS a word, and confuzzled is too!... Gives EVIL best friend the EVIL eye...Okay, and thank you for being nice to me! :)

And to Anna, 'maybe', I might try to cut down on the sarcasm.... but it all just flows out, and I'm most likely just a 'sarcastic person....(must check up on this...)...I will 'TRY' make it seriouser...not a word is it?....

Okay, on to Chapter 4.

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Finally, Charlotte came out of the bathroom, after spending about twenty minutes thinking about

how many ways that Samantha Watson could accidentally die, many were still running through her

head.She sat in her chair for a while, completely unnoticed by her parents who were still deeply in a

conversation about how lovely that Watson girl is...blah... and Danny who was still stuffing his face

with food, and lots of it. She filled her plate with food, and started makeing a small crater in her

mashed potatoes and poured her gravy in it. (WOW, how exciting is this!).She then mixed them

together, made a mashed potatoe and gravy portrait of Samantha Watson, and started 'keelin', or

killing it. After she was done killing her potatoes, and not eating anything, she got up put her

plate on the counter and went to her bedroom, quietly for once. Still completely unnonticed by

her parents, still in the exact same conversation, and Danny still stuffing his face. Gosh, it was

'almost' like she was invisible.

"Gosh, it's almost like I am invisible in this family." Charlotte mumbled to herself.

After falling asleep, again, for the practically the millionth time that day, she was jolted awake,

by Rafe throwing himself on to her and her bed, only to bounce off and fall 'gracefully' on to the

floor.

"Argh! Rafe wha'choo do 'at for?" Charlotte gumbled sleepily. "You coulda killed me!"

"Me kill you? Why would I want to kill my mostest favouristist sister in the entire beautifully,

wonderful world?!" Rafe said with a happy sigh, and a goofy grin on his face, still on the floor.

Charlotte squinted at him, through her glare.

"What's wrong with you, and what are you on?" she asked him.

"Nothing's wrong on this fine wonderful night. Tonight's absolutely GREAT!" Rafe said overly

cheerful.

"So. Your date with Samantha went, fine, then. Nice to know. GO AWAY." Charlotte said,

very grumpily, trying to get back to sleep.

"Yep, our date went fine" said Rafe completely ingnoring the 'go away' part of her sentence, and

went in to every single detail about his glorious date with the wonderful, beautiful, charming,

stunning, the girl that absolutly every guy wanted (That is, in Rafe's little world. SO he had to

beat all the 'other guys' off with a stick).

Finally after reliving his perfectly, wonderful, date, over for the third time, with Charlotte, she

finally got VERY bored, and frustrated, with having to pretend to listen to her older brother, she

gave up and fell asleep. Again. Going completely unnoticed by Rafe, who was telling hte story

over, again, and still sitting on the floor with his back to her.

The next morning Mrs. McCawly called up the stairs to wake Charlotte up. So Charlotte got up

stepped over Rafe, who was still in the same spot as he was last night, but was actually silent,

and asleep, and she walked down to the kitchen, following to delicious scent of the morning

breakfast.

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A/N: There I updated and finally got them in to the next day. YAY! okay, this chapter was short, and pointless, again, put as I said in the last chapter "I'm going with the flow"....at least that's what I thinkI said...Okee, I better get back to my homework...Bye! (oh yeah, PLEASE review) : )


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I'm baacckk!! Okee, this chappie may be short but, hey, at least I'm updating!

Diclaimer: It'll never change... So why bother?!?

I would like to thank **Rachel E. Walker, LKJediKnight, Anna, and Stacey's Mom! **And yes, I have heard that song many times before, and yes this chapter, will be, or is, whatever, in paragraphs. But I don't have any one to do spell checks with, sooo... there. Oh, yeah, and Danny will not pursue Evelyn in this story, just because I don't like that pairing, and this is MY story!

(authoress takes time to stick tongue out childishly)

Chapter 5

School was starting the next day, for Charlotte that is, so Danny and Rafe spent the last day of summer break with Charlotte, making the best of the last day of her freedom. Rafe, Charlotte, and Danny now sat in a comfortable silence in the McCawly's backyard, watching the setting sun in the distance, tired from their long day of flying, chores, and, well, flying.

"Rafe," Charlotte called quietly to her brother, breaking the silence,as she lay on her back watching the first of the stars appear. "Yes Charlie?" Rafe replied from his sitting position. "Since this was your last year of schooling... um, are you going to go fight in the war?" Charlotte asked, her voice dropping volume, as if the saddenss of them leaving her weighed down on her words. Rafe glanced at Danny, who lay silently on his stomach, watching the grass grow.

Charlotte was glad she had finally managed to get that question that had been burning in her mind for so long out of her, sheknew what his answer was going to be, Rafe was BORN to fly, as was Danny, and she also knew that he would take any chance he could get to get out of their small town, so would Danny. So figuring out that question wasn't so hard.

Rafe gazed at the night sky, pondering on the many ways he could think of answering his sisters question without her breaking down and crying again. Yes, he had heard her crying in her room the night he had announced that he was thinking about leaving to help fight in the war, with 'his flying skills'. He had intended for only his parents to hear, to ask for their permission first, even if he was old enough to make his ownmind, he didn't need his parents help! He was a MAN! 'I'm a MAN!' Rafe thought, with a smile on his face.

'I'm not listening... must not look up... boy this grass is interesting, oh, look a bug... I'm going to touch it' Danny thought, while poking the terrified little bug, leaving Rafe to do the hard work, it was his turn to do the answering, no more waiting for Danny to come to the rescue. No more Danny having to answer a question from Charlotte that was aimed for Rafes, and only Rafe's answer, 'NO more!' Danny thought.

Charlotte sat, outraged at having to wait so long for an answer from her brother, heck, even an answer from Danny. 'All that I want is a straight forward yes or no answer' Charlotte thought in her own little exasperated voice inside her head. She knew that if Danny was definately leaving, so would Rafe, 'So Danny, you can answer any second now' she thought, once again while glaring at the back of Danny's head, 'OH, MY, GOODNESS! The grass is NOT that interesting!'. Sighing loudly, she got up from her lounging position on the dry grass, and stalked to the house without a backward glance.

Rafe sat silently watching his sisters retreating figure he sighed, "Well that was easy." he said to Danny before laying back down to star gaze.

It was half-way through her school year, and Charlotte sat in her desk, only half listening to her teacher Mr. Owens drone on and on in his monotone voice. The other half of her was thinking 'Boring, boring, boring, boohhooorrrinngg... hm, I wonder what Danny and Rafe are doing now', her thoughts going to her two best friends, one being her brother. They had left a few days before, it had been a tearful good-bye, well for her part, she didn't know if Danny or Rafe were really all that sad, heck, they even had the nerve to have those big huge happy smile appear on their face when they said good-bye to her, 'How dare they' Charlotte thought moodily while shredding bits of paper on to her lap.

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A/N: Okee, I know another short chapter, I'm ending it here because I have to get back to my homework, but I hope it was okay... And I know that the entire dates and all that may not be all that great, and I think that if you actually try and do some sort of math, I would be way off, but does it look like I really care?... I have exams in a couple weeks so if I don't update sooner, you shall know that I am studying so that I actually pass with an okay grade.

PLEASE REVIEW! (TOODLES!)


	6. Chapter 6

AN: Sorry I hadn't reviewed as quickly as other authors may have :), of course I'm not others authors, but... I had classes to catch up on, and exams that I had to pass with at least 73 percent, so I think they actually expected me to study... Anyways, no homework, I'm bored, I've decided to update... (man I'm boring aren't I?)

Thank You to the lovely reviewers! **Anna **(Glad it's easier to read. Look, I'm speeding it up, sort of)**, Stacey's Mom **(Yup, Josh is HOTT!)**, and Pearl Harbor **(I accept your apology-sniffle-... Okee, I told you I'm weird)

Disclaimer: Same as always:)

Chapter 6

Charlotte sighed as she read over the letters Danny and Rafe had sent over the past few monthes. Most of them telling her how much fun they were having, 'Rubbing it in is what they're doing' Charlotte thought while sticking her chin out stubbornly. Sighing yet again she rested her forehead on the cool glass window.

Mr. McCawly sat by the warmth of the fire, humming along to a tune that only he could hear. Glancing around he waited until his wife was out of the room and safely in the kitchen before he made to light up another one of his pipes. He often wondered why she had detested of his many pipes, and when he asked her that, she replied in a biting tone that it made him look so old. He lit up a match while gazing at his beautiful teenaged daughter, waiting for her reaction.

Charlotte smiled when she heard her father strike his match, and watched his reflection in the window as he lit his tenth pipe of the day. 'Oh father, when will he ever learn.'

About a half an hour later Mrs. McCawly gracefully walked in to the living room to announce dinner. Her large sacchrine smile dropped immediately, and was replaced with a rather frightening frown. She stomped over to her husband, who sat still as a lump on a log, with a wide smirk that stretched across his face, displaying his many wrikles of age, acting as though nothing was wrong.

Charlotte sat up from her slouching position on the chair in front of the window, which had a wonderful view of the night sky, and the moon reflecting on the snow drifts. 'Ugh, this happens every night. I wish Rafe were here, we could use some of his humourous remarks that he thinks are so smart.' Standing up quickily, scattering the many letters that had been sitting as a well organized mess on her lap only a few seconds ago, and cut in to whatever her mother was about to screech at her father. 'Only six more monthes' she thought, before they had all made their way to the dining room.

-

Earlier on in the school year Charlotte had become 'one of the girls' in the school now that she had started putting her hair the way the others did. A few of the guys had taken a liking to her, and she went to the 'Soda Shoppe' in town with a few of them, but none of them were able to keep her interested. Except for one, Robert Mantle, otherwise known as Bobby, who had just moved to town, he had a 'great sense of humour to go with a great smile' Charlotte had gushed over and over again to her friends.

Christmas had come and gone without any excitement happening within the McCawly household. Bobby had given Charlotte a beautiful necklace, and her father a pocket watch, and her mother a new hat that she had been gazing at every time she had passed the store window (Charlotte had told him what they had wanted, and Bobby was like a part of the McCawly family already, always over at the farm, helping out when he could... He was a very giving person... And to be the kind of giving person he was, he just had to be rich... Which he was.)

Bobby and Charlotte had a great relationship, the longest on Charlotte has had yet, they went dancing ("Bobby is **such **a great dancer" Charlotte has said, many times), they went to the movies, were able to have long conversations, and sit in a silence that was always comfortable. But one thing that many people had noticed and Charlotte had yet to admit, unless of course she hadn't noticed, was that Bobby held an uncanny resemblance to Danny, he had the same build, hair, sense of humour, and was just as smart in school.

One February evening, Bobby and Charlotte were out walking around a pond that was surrounded by many trees, Charlotte smiled at the memories of her childhood with Danny and Rafe, of the many times the went swimming in here, only to get in trouble for their clothing being soaking wet when they got home, of when they had climbed the trees that now loomed before her looking dark, and old, of when they used to just sit out here and star gaze in a comfortable silence. She snapped out of her, their, memories, at the feeling of a warm hand wrap around hers. Glancing up at her boyfriend of four and a half monthes, she smiled in to his warm brown eyes.

Charlotte allowed Bobby to lead her over to the edge of the pond and sit them both down. They sat, not speaking for a while, the only sound being the craking of the of trees as they moved in the wind, and their breathing that went as one. Bobby let out a sigh, breaking the silence, and turned to Charlotte.

"You love me right" Bobby asked while gazing in to her eyes.

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AN: Okee, I'm leaving it their, second day on second semester and already they gave us a huge load of homework! Oi, don't they know we have lives to live (That, did not, make sense...) Anyways I may not update very soon, as I said I have a life (which includes basketball, friends, family, and (UGH!) school...). So be aware of that fact. Oh yeah, and the spelling and grammar mistakes are all my fault, I'm too tired to check it over (my spell check thingy doesn't work, it's EVIL).

If you have actually read my entire story this far, GOOD for You! If you actually liked it a teeny bit...

PLEASE REVIEW!


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